


Broken Silence

by YamiTami



Category: Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-23
Updated: 2011-06-23
Packaged: 2017-10-20 16:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/214722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YamiTami/pseuds/YamiTami





	Broken Silence

I never asked for this, you know. Don't worry, I'm still going to do my job because no one else can. Or maybe it’s that no one else will. Either way I'm stuck with saving the world.

No one asked me if I wanted to do it. Well, I guess that Zelda kind of asked as a favor but even being new to the whole Hyrule thing I figured it wasn’t a good idea to disobey the princess. And I think obeying her was implied when the Deku tree sent me to her. So yeah, no one asked me if I wanted to go risk my life for a world I didn’t even know existed until a month ago. Seven years ago.

I just wanted to say it, for once. Otherwise I'll go crazy before I ever reach that final song.

I just wanted to not be an outcast anymore. That's it. Well, and for the nightmares to stop. Didn't know they were premonitions at the time... I wonder about that. I never had any forseeing dreams before that and I haven't had any since. As far as I can tell my type of magic is just for setting stuff on fire and other easy things. Did someone else give me those dreams? The Deku Tree, maybe. He is the one who started me on this landslide into chaos.

So I finally got my fairy partner. She chatters constantly—yes you do—but it's probably just so that someone is talking. I've probably already said more words to you right now than I did in my entire life. Outcast, you know, afraid to say anything that would put me even more outside of the group I desperately wanted to be a part of. Now I know that I never could have been a part of the crowd even if I didn't get mixed up in this. Surprise! You're not even a Kakariko, Link, you're Hylian. A teenage Hylian. I wasn't even used to seeing teenagers when I fell to sleep, you know.

... What was I talking about? Oh yeah. Not asking for this. So Navi comes and I'm so overjoyed at having her that I don't even bother to ask why he was asking me to clear out the infection poisoning him. Didn't pick very well since I couldn't get to it in time. Oh, his double or son or whatever has sprouted and I'm sure he didn't even think of it as death, not like we do, but still. I couldn't save him. And he expects me to save the world!

So, hello Princess. I have no idea what I'm doing, and will you please give me some direction so I don't feel like my life is falling apart at the seams? Go get the sparkly stones, got it. Then I had Ruto telling me that we were engaged and I didn't even know what that meant. I ended up asking Malon when I stopped by the ranch. I felt comfortable talking to her since she was the same age as me. Not too tall and this strange concept of 'older'. And she told me and called me fairy boy and said that if I ever needed something cleared up that I just had to ask her.

I went back as soon as I left the Light Temple. Now she's a teenager too. I think some part of me thought she'd stay the same age like she was supposed to, the way it was in the forest. I must sound so desperate. How are you liking the world’s chances now?

So I go from messing things up with the Deku Tree to messing things up for everyone else by going and getting the three stones. Way to go, Link, opening the door for Ganondorf. Triforce of Courage, right? Doesn't too much courage make you an idiot?

So now I have to make it right. I have to fix this because I'm the one who made it worse. Yes I did, Navi. For once I'm talking more than you so you're not going to win this fight. Don't worry, when this is over I'm sure I'll be back to silent except for ordering things in shops and yelling as the blow lands.

… Navi… I don't know what I'd do without you. If I had to do this completely alone... even when I'm irritated at you for nagging at me you're still the only thing that keeps me going. I need that, okay? I’m never going to admit to it again but you know it now. Goddess, Navi, I didn't mean to make you cry. Please don't cry...

And you. I’m glad I have you too. Which must sound weird because we don’t even know each other, you just teach me a song and go away again… but you’re here now. Do you keep an eye on me from the shadows when I’m going through things? Good idea. If I snap you’ll be there to stop me. That helps, somehow. It helps that you’re traveling with me even if I don’t see you. Knowing that someone else is with me.

I feel so alone. Navi, you do so much, and I’d already be gone without you. But you’re from the forest. You’re pure. You don’t lie. Not like people on the outside. You can’t depend on people on the outside not to change or run away or not help you when you need them. I can’t, at least.

Except for you. Thanks. Maybe I can believe that it’s worth saving now. Maybe it’ll be worth losing everything. No matter what happens I can’t go home. I’ll always be an outsider in Hyrule. I don’t belong anywhere in this world but I’m still saving it because that’s all I have left. I never asked for this. I never… wanted this responsibility. I… never wanted… my life to… fall… apart...

~~*~~

The Hero of Time faded into a state of near-consiousness, mumbling half words as his sword hand twitched. The hair on the right side of his head was stained and matted with blood. Shiek passed a wet cloth over the wound, slowly clearing away the clotted mess. The last temple must have been a difficult one to master as Link had no healing items left when he emerged. As soon as he stepped onto Hyrule field he was ambushed. The Hero was still able to defeat them all, tired and worn as he was, but not before he suffered a blow to his head and several broken ribs.

Navi lay on his bloody green cap, crying.

Shiek had only a single dose of red potion with him. He managed to get the babbling Hero to drink it. The magic mended the ribs but left severe bruising, healed the head injury but a moderate concussion remained. The remaining injuries weren’t life threatening but they were debilitating. The true danger came not from the swelling in the Hero’s brain but from the chance that they would be attacked again. Shiek was a capable fighter, but only when he could flit from shadow to shadow and pick his enemies off one by one. Link was a powerhouse who fought best when in the middle of a rageful fray, which is why he could take down the ambushes set in the corrupted temples and those parties which waited at the surface. If Shiek was faced with protecting the unconscious Hero from an ambush, he would fail.

There was a fairy spring not far from there. Not far if the person traveling was able bodied and alone. Shiek constructed a plan of action. The world needed Link alive.

Far beneath his detatched calculation laid the echoes of Zelda’s mind. Shiek felt a whisper of worry, a twinge of distraught emotion. It was rare for even a hint of the Princess’s thoughts to drift through the heavy fog which separated their minds. That was Shiek’s purpose; to form a shield with the veneer of his consciousness so that Ganondorf could not find Zelda with his scrying magic. When he felt the brush of her mind he was concerned that the void separating them had been damaged somehow, but the whisps faded into nothing quickly. Shiek knew that even that tiny glimpse was a sign that Zelda was undergoing extreme emotional turmoil. He guessed that she felt responsible for sending Link to fetch the ‘shiny stones’ as the Hero called them.

Shiek examined Link again, probing with basic magic diagnostic tools. The swelling in his brain was going down. His damaged ribs were fused enough to withstand travel. As for the Hero’s mind… to Shiek’s magical eye it was a churning firestorm overtaking was little was left of a calm forest. He saw a tiny blue dot battling the flames with shrill shouts, as well as a human figure who seemed to stare the fire into submission, however temporary the surrender was.

Shiek was a husk, but in the seven years of his existence he had gathered formed the dim reflection of normal emotions. And so he felt a faint sense of amusement as Link’s mental image of a shadowed warrior battled self-doubt and guilt. Part of Shiek’s duties was to protect the Hero and guide him to victory. It seemed that he was serving to protect Link’s mind in an unexpected way.

After one last check of the Hero’s physical injuries, Shiek packed up his few medical supplies and hoisted the half-consious Link to his feet. Navi resolutely scrubbed her tiny face with a corner of the cap, and then she lifted the cloth into the air and carefully tucked it into the Hero’s belt. She then hid in one of Link’s belt pouches so that her light wouldn’t alert any enemies. With that, they were slowly off.

For a moment, just before they left the safety of his established campsite, Shiek wondered. The mere act surprised him. He didn’t wonder. He calculated and he planned but he didn’t wonder. He was a shell, after all, a husk designed to protect the Princess with his non-existance. He was never really alive so it would not matter when Zelda took control once again and he disappeared. That was how it had always been, and he had never questioned or challeneged it.

In that moment of wondering he did question. He did challenge the thought. His conclusion was the same as Link’s.

“I didn’t ask for it either, Hero,” he whispered softly. “But I will see it through just as you will.”

That reflection of amusement passed over his face.

“Hm. I wonder which of us will be better off after you defeat Ganondorf?”

Then he shook his head and stepped into the wilderness, unconscious Hero in tow.


End file.
